Hand-Held Scanner Plays Sheet Music In Real-Time

A small device being developed by a group at the Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan is able to scan and play handwritten sheet music in real-time. The Gocen is a hand-held scanner that can translate what it reads on paper into music. The sheet music is analyzed using the OpenCV library and a unique algorithm, allowing the Gocen to identify the stave, notes, and chords. It can also read words like ‘piano’ and ‘guitar’ and change the instrument accordingly, and alter the volume level based on the size of the notes. You can check out the video from DigInfo below to learn more and see the device in action: